aBSenT SoUnD…………………………………..
—-Engaging, atmospheric, dream-like ambiance are the powerful elements in the music of Absent Sound. These puppet masters wield a musical arsenal creating huge dramatic worlds of sound with organic chants, colossal guitars, hypnotic off-time record scratches, beats, loops, and Lesley speaker keyboard drones: ears open and eyes closed is all the flight attendant requests.
—-Absent Sound began as a solo project of Robert G. Menard around 1995 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with friends helping him produce the home recordings in a live setting. In 2002, David Fort joined as a permanent member to the take the band into a much more serious mode. Menard (guitars, samples/loops, vocals and keys) and Fort (guitars, bass, vocals and keys) secluded themselves in the wilds of north-central Manitoba. Over the next year the pair hid from all distractions, meditating solely on the rise and fall of the earth’s respirating chest. What emerged a year later was a treasure chest full ideas and music that are still being explored four years later. Their innate community building skills have allowed them to become the hub of one of the more vibrant progressive art and music scenes in Canada.
—-The Absent Sound’s live show puts them in the realm of an art installation: employing at times multiple tv sets, performance painting, film projection, contemporary dancers, and stilt-walking pantomime. Winnipeg’s creatively fertile film making community have also perfectly complimented their music.
—-The group has toured extensively throughout North America and are best experienced live bringing their unique style of sensory art and music to life. Sharing the stage with Do Make Say Think, Feist, Fly Pan Am, Mono, Growing, Clann Zu, and Mahogany Frog portrays the caliber of musical acts Absent Sound melds perfectly with.
—-The band has released three albums to date, “Another Chapter” (2003), “Music To Live And Die To” (2004), and “It’s All True” (2005). No List Records, a Winnipeg based record label, saw the potential in Absent Sound and decided to release “It’s All True”. The rich and full sound was captured beautifully by recording engineer Craig Boychuk (Propaghandi, Greg MacPherson, Hide Your Daughters) and mastered in Montreal by Harris Newman (most Constellation Records releases). The Absent Sound are receiving nothing but positive feedback and reviews from all over the world.
—-Absent Sound have showcased at such diverse festivals as Ness Creek, Winnipeg Jazz, JunoFest, and Send & Receive. They have also created two of their own festivals, The ElementSircus, a sonic multi-media and costumed event, and The 20 Guitar Circular Wall Of Angelic Sound.
—-The Absent Sound have now evolved into a full production joining forces with Kelly Castle (Little Buddies, former National Monument, Room 237) on drums, vocals, guitars, and keys, as well as Josh Butcher on keys, performance painting, and film projections. Since returning to Winnipeg from their musical endeavors in New York City, the band continues to enchant and inspire audiences. .
…………………………………………DREAM!…………………………………………